Organic Polyester

Yesterday I went to a new gym.

In the previous fitness place to which I belonged for years, a few things happened recently that finally crossed the line for me.  There was either a problem with a sauna, or a paper towel dispenser, soap, or rather lack of, and every other time a problem with the drinking fountain. Once I came in and there was a hole in the wall just over the drinking fountain, which was working,  and as I used it I wondered what went on here to have made someone put a fist through the wall.

Last week, just after the holidays,  after having checked online if there were any special notices and having found nothing, I went in during my normal hours at around 4pm only to find out that the women’s locker room is closed, and the toilets are being redone and the tiles in the sauna are being replaced, to be reopened the following day. Meanwhile the gym was open.  The manager shrugged shoulders and repeated that tomorrow the locker room is scheduled to be working again.

Luckily, I already had my gym clothes on, (which I never do, but this time it me it struck me to put them on beforehand), so I started my warm-ups. In a few minutes I whiffed a foul smell.  I looked around and passing me by strolling in a direction of the line of tredmills was a blank staring toothless dirty haired woman clutching a tied plastic bag to her soiled shirt.

She apparently just wondered off the street when the attendant was not looking and proceeded into the club, perhaps to the showers to wash herself, but to her disadvantage the locker room was closed. So left wandering in a cool air-conditioned space, she wasn’t in a hurry to leave.  I felt my eyebrows lifting, and noticed that the attendant was talking on the phone looking away.

So I felt the time has come for me to start looking for a new fitness location.

Yesterday was my first day in a new club. This new place not only contains all of the usual workout equipment that most health clubs in the city have, it also has an organic cafeteria, and a pool that does not smell of chlorine. I can come to a day-class to avoid evening crowds and have a private instructor to show me the best routines for boost my energy.

In my opinion, I found a gym of my dreams. I noticed that there is a clean fresh smell in the locker rooms and clean feeling to the machines. There is a smiling lady greeting me at the locker room handing me my key. The towels are big and soft. There is a fit look to the members who were occupying the machines and the mats in the classes, which I could see through the glass walls.  The employees are fit.

As usual I started my normal workout, from time to time re-orienting myself, still learning where everything is.

And I couldn’t help noticing that all women had on fitting sleeveless support tops and cropped pants. All of them. And my outfit was not like those.  Mine was loose cotton long sleeve top and long pants.  I prefer to have a long sleeve shirt on and long pants on my legs when I lay on the floor and use the machines.  But I like to stay with fashion so I resolved to find a top that fits me fashionably, cotton and has long sleeves.

As I left the gym, in the café by the entrance to the gym, I observed people resting after a workout, or waiting for others, sipping organic drinks and eating organic food, sold in the cafe.

That night I went on the internet with looking for organic workout clothes, which are 100% pure cotton and that are fashionably fitting with long sleeve.

In the 15 minutes and 12 clicked offers I did not find any.  I felt a bit of frustration. The most pure I could find was eco-friendly fabric, which turned out to be organic cotton mixed 50%-50% with RPET, which is a fabric developed from recycled plastic bottles. Plastic bottles! I am not wearing a recycled plastic bottle on my sweating body, so my skin would absorb the chemicals. No thanks!

The near best was the 50%-40% blend of organic cotton and viscose made from bamboo and offered by a top sports clothing brand. I looked up the viscose and found that wood fibers are treated by sodium hydroxide and other stuff eventually to form cellulose (plastic), which is further dissolved in sodium hydroxide to form the viscose that blends with organic cotton.

I am not sure that this sounds healthy to me! I don’t care with how much organic cotton you mix this chemically infused fabric and what the origins of it were, in my book this is not a natural material, and unfit and unhealthy to put on my skin, or absorb my sweat.

I couldn’t help asking myself a question, why do we bother eating organic food, while wearing plastic clothes.

And where does this leave me in search of the new fashion of tight modern top? Old-fashioned? Or sensible and healthy?

Tags: fashion workout clothes, gym, healthy, organic cotton, sweat absorbing, workout clothes